MIAMI — Forecasters on Tuesday are watching a disturbance in the eastern Atlantic that is expected to turn into a tropical depression soon.
Also on their radar: A system that is heading to the Caribbean Sea, where conditions are ripe for it to possibly turn into a tropical depression in the next several days.
Tropical depressions forecast to form soon
The disturbance with a high chance of turning into a tropical depression within the next day or so is a few hundred miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands Tuesday morning in the eastern Atlantic, far from the United States.
The National Hurricane Center in an advisory at 8 a.m. Tuesday upped the system’s formation chances to 80% through the next two to five days. The system, colored red on the map, is forecast to turn into a depression while moving northwest in the Atlantic’s open waters.
The other system forecasters are watching is a tropical wave a few hundred miles east of the southern Windward Islands. The system, whose formation chances were dwindling over the past few days, has seen a change.
While the wave doesn’t have any signs of significant organization yet, the hurricane center expects it will see “slow development” as it quickly moves west toward the Caribbean Sea, enough for it to possibly turn into a depression in the next several days.
The forecast shows the system, colored orange on the map, being over the central or western Caribbean Sea by this weekend, possibly as a depression.
Its formation chances jumped at 8 a.m. Tuesday, with the hurricane center now giving it a 40% chance of formation through the next five days. It still has a 20% chance of formation over the next 48 hours.
Forecasters say the Windward Islands, the northern coast of Venezuela and Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao should monitor the system’s progress. An An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system Tuesday afternoon, if necessary.
Julia is the next name on the list for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season.
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